![handle is hein.journals/defcon85 and id is 1 raw text is:
Law Firm Nightmare: Clients Using
Lawyer Services for Ponzi Schemes
'[The mastermind] was so charismatic and his Ponzi scheme so sophisticated
that he duped everyone, including [the lawyers].'
-Norton v. Graham and Dunn, P.C,
2016 WL 1562541 at*11 (Wn. App. Apr. 18,
2016) (unpublished)
By: Mark J. Fucile
/ADC member, Mark Fucile of Fucile & Reising LLP in
Portland, advises lawyers, law firms and legal
departments throughout the Northwest on ethics and
attorney-client privilege matters. Before co-founding
his current firm in 2005, Mark served as an in-house
ethics counsel for a large Northwest regional law firm.
Mark also teaches legal ethics as an adjunct at the
University of Oregon School of Law's Portland campus.
HERE are few risk management
problems that law firms
confront that are potentially
more catastrophic than the
discovery that a seemingly good
client has used the firm's services
for a Ponzi scheme or similar fraud.'
Although circumstances vary, a
'A Ponzi scheme is classically defined as
[a] fraudulent investment scheme in which
money contributed by later investors
generates artificially high dividends or
returns for original investors, whose
example attracts even larger investments.
BLACK's LAw DICTIONARY (10th ed. 2014). In
practice, however, the term has been used
classic scenario is the one illustrated
by the opening quotation: an
outwardly successful and celebrated
business person has duped
hundreds of investors-and the law
firm. Once unmasked, the master-
mind and any compatriots are
almost inevitably on their way to
broadly to describe a variety of frauds. See
generally In re Rose, 425 B.R. 145, 152-153
(Bankr. M.D. Pa. 2010) (noting the breadth
of the term in practice); United States v.
Harder, 144 F. Supp.3d 1233, 1238 n.4 (D.
Or. 2015) (same). This article uses the term
in its broad practical sense.](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/defcon85&div=1&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
What Is HeinOnline?
Contact us for annual subscription options:
Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?
profiles profiles most
Contact us for annual subscription options:
Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?
profiles profiles most
Contact us for annual subscription options:
Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?
profiles profiles most